PLEASE HELP - DESPERATE!

[TheJackal]

I have had this problem for 4 months and still can't get my new machine up and running.

I have the following setup:

P4 3.0C
Asus P4P800 (1005 BIOS)
Antec 1080AMG Case
2 x 512 MB Crucial PC3200XMS
Seagate Barracuda 7200.7 120GB SATA
ATI Radeon 9800 Pro
Windows XP Pro

I have RMA'd every single part (motherboard twice) except the CPU and Video card. I put in the Windows XP CD, boot up, it formats the 120GB drive just fine, setup then installs the files it needs and then reboots. Here is where the problem starts. Once i have gone through setup and it reboots for the first time, right after the POST is done, the computer reboots....every single time. As i said, i have replaced almost every single part (including power supply) and even tried reinstalling Windows XP about 30 times. No luck, still keeps rebooting itself. The only thing i can think of is the CPU overheating? I look in the BIOS, under Hardware Monitor, and the CPU temp fluctuates between 95-97 degrees. Is this normal? But if this was the case, why does the comp stay on for over an hour while i format the drive? Do i have some jumper set wrong? Any BIOS settings i need to check?

Please help! I am losing hope.

 

[Breezie]

95 to 97 C??!! that's way too high buddy =x get that fixed first

then try messing with the ram settings and knock the ram voltage up to like 2.7v

 

[TheJackal]

Sorry, 95-97 F. (that's about 34-36 degrees C)

 

[TheJackal]

As for memory settings, i currently have it set to "Configure DRAM timing by SPD". Shall i set this to disable? If i do this, the default settings are:

DRAM CAS# Latency - 2.5
DRAM RAS# Precharge - 4
DRAM RAS# to CAS# Delay - 4
DRAM Precharge Delay - 8
DRAM Burst Length - 8

Is that right?

 

[Breezie]

does it just reboot itself or do you get the blue screen of death before it reboots? you cpu should be about right temperature-
i'm guessing it might have something to do with your RAM- try setting it to 2.7v for the ram and if you have two sticks- try booting with only 1 and first and see if it works. Just read your timings- maybe setting DRAM RAS# to CAS# to 3 might help too if not SPD should be ok.
There's always the chance that your motherboard could be screwy too so I'm not to sure how to address that w/o getting a different one.

If there's any settings for overclocking on your bios- turn them off too- turn off Hyperthreading too and see if that does anything-

 

[fredtam]

Have you tried a different XP cd? Or any other OS?
Does it continuously reboot after that?
Do you have the power split between the Hard drive and the 9800?
Have you tried just one stick of ram?

 

[TheJackal]

It just reboots, no blue screen of death. And no overclocking set.

Tried installing 2000 and still the same problem.

I have the hard drive on it's on power cable and the video card split off the same cable as the Cd-rom.

I've tried just one stick of RAM and replaced both sticks with new ones.

 

[fredtam]

Try switching the splitter from the 9800 to something other than the cdrom power cable.

 

[mechBgon]

Set the RAM timings to User Defined and try the 2.5-4-4-8 timings with 2.7 volts on your memory modules, particularly if your XMS 3200 is the 3200LL. The LL modules may ask the mobo to run at timings that the modules can handle, but that the mobo cannot handle. Seen this a lot.

 

[Breezie]

yeah, non value ram sometimes have aggressive settings- mess around with that first making sure the voltage for the ram is 2.7 and if you cant find numbers that work- maybe put a stick of crucial pc2100 value ram and see if it fixes it- then you'll a least pinpoint the problem IF its the ram

 

[TheJackal]

Where do i set the ram to 2.7 volts? I can't find anywhere to do this in the BIOS.

 

[fredtam]

I can almost gurantee you don,t have a RAM problem. I would look mainly at the CD rom, HDD, and the data and power cables between them.
Your RAM timings are more than loose enough.

 

[mechBgon]

I cooked up detailed instructions for the P4C800-E in this thread and I think the BIOSes use the same menu system, so see if that helps you out

 

[mechBgon]

Mmmm, I just noticed something else, you're running an SATA drive as your boot drive. I think I've been seeing what I was expecting to see, sorry Is your mobo set to boot from its SATA controller? Look in the BIOS > Boot Settings > Boot Device Priority and make sure the SATA is one of the devices it's set to try to boot from.

<--- feels dumb

 

[fredtam]

mechBgon, Is there a setting similar to the Abit boards where you select Combined, sata,etc. or do you mean selecting it as the first boot device? It should automatically load XP after the initial reboot. It would seem that it would just stop saying it could not find what it needed which is why I suspect a hardware problem. Maybe he should boot from cd and allow the setup files to load then on the reboot go into the bios and select the HDD as the first boot device and see what happens.

 

[mechBgon]

Originally posted by: fredtam
mechBgon, Is there a setting similar to the Abit boards where you select Combined, sata,etc. or do you mean selecting it as the first boot device? It should automatically load XP after the initial reboot. It would seem that it would just stop saying it could not find what it needed which is why I suspect a hardware problem. Maybe he should boot from cd and allow the setup files to load then on the reboot go into the bios and select the HDD as the first boot device and see what happens.

Well, what I'm envisioning is that on his initial WinXP Setup boot, his system boots from CD and runs Setup and goes

~ aha, the BIOS is showin' me a hard drive, great. I'll set up WinXP on it

but then when Setup is done formatting and copying the files needed, the system goes to boot and it says

~ "Boot from IDE?" But there aren't any drives hooked up to the IDE controller! All I gots is an SATA drive and a CD-ROM and a DVD-ROM and a floppy, no IDE.

But my copy of the P4P800 owners' manual PDF is corrupted and the P4C800-E manual doesn't enumerate what the different options actually are, so I don't know for sure whether it calls for "HDD0, HDD1, HDD2" or if it goes by the controller ("IDE, SATA, CD-ROM, Floppy, SCSI, Network"). From my general pattern of Asus ownership, I'd suppose it would do the latter, in which case selecting "SATA" as one of the devices to try ought to get it to see the fresh WinXP installation that's waiting to complete.

 

[fredtam]

Gettin manual now.

 

[Breezie]

you finish your setup right? like choose your time settings and everything through the setup? if so- you're boot should be fine because XP boots after it goes through the dos-like installation phase-

 

[fredtam]

Under IDE configuration the settings should be as follows:

Onboard IDE operate mode [enhanced mode]
Enhanced mode support on [P-ATA + S-ATA]
Configure sata as raid [no]

 

[fredtam]

~ "Boot from IDE?" But there aren't any drives hooked up to the IDE controller! All I gots is an SATA drive and a CD-ROM and a DVD-ROM and a floppy, no IDE.

But since the bios/cmos actuall gives the boot instructions wouldn't it have the same problem telling xp where the drive was for the xp setup files if that were the case provided the drive is shown as recognized in the first place?

 

[mechBgon]

Good question. I've never dealt in person with a board that can recognize two different classes of drives natively. Nice research there, anyway and I hope it bears out.

 

[Atlantean]

I can't believe that you have had the problem for 4 months. After 4 days I would be right pissed off. Hate to ask but are you using a legit copy of xp pro? Make sure that everything is plugged in firm, and make sure at least one of the boot devices is your sata drive. I am not really sure what to tell you... give up and let someone else do it? Something is obviously very very wrong with your computer. Maybe your case has some aztec curse on it... go through all your bios settings though, read the mobo instruction book as well. Part of the problem could be because of the sata drive. Did you install the drivers for it in windows xp pro. I had a problem there, but you said it gets through the installation just fine... Let us know if you figure out what the problem is.

 

[TheJackal]

Ok, with Windows XP, i never get to the setup part (where you set time, it detects hardware, etc). As soon as it is done formatting and copying setup files, it reboots and then never gets more than a few seconds past the POST without rebooting.

With Windows 2000, it is actually different. Just tried it again now. I can get into the setup part but i start getting random BSOD's. Mostly saying Page Fault In Non Paged Error, or something like that. However, i tried messing with the memory settings.

Mechbgone, i set them according to your method. DRAM Frequency to 400, DDR Reference Voltage to 2.75, DRAM CAS Latency, DRAM RAS Precharge, DRAM RAS-to-CAS Delay, and DRAM Precharge Delay to 2.5, 3, 3, and 8. Also, AGP Aperture to 128. Once i do this, it starts to reboot again about 10-20 seconds after POST, even under the 2000 install. So perhaps it is a memory problem? Do i have the wrong type of RAM?

The SATA hard drive shows up as the Fourth IDE Master for some reason and is in the Boot list.

 

[TheJackal]

Yes, it is a legit copy of Windows XP.

 

[TheJackal]

Yeah, i'm pissed alright! But the problem is i have replaced almost every part. I'd buy another motherboard but who's to say that would fix the problem?